Another chance
by SnapDragonStories
Summary: Life can be difficult, especially if you're the rejected first draft of an energy vampire. However, maybe escaping and finding a new home with the most unlikely of companions could bring about another chance at life.
1. The Memory Chip

**Disclaimer: **None of the characters in this story belong to me (Duh) and I do not own BLOSC. I only own E.V

Enjoy!

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><p>Zurg glared at the many Grubs, scurrying around with various tools and devices. They were working too slowly for his liking and he was getting impatient.<p>

"WHY IS IT NOT DONE YET?"

The sudden yell caused them to squeal in shock and drop their things while the Brainpods working with blueprints yelped and hid in their jars.

The evil emperor stared threateningly at the closest Grub to him and the little creature was pushed forward by the crowd. He looked up fearfully at the villain towering before him and he cowered, legs trembling.

"I-It should b-be completed very soon my evil emperor, I swear! W-we just need to finish the mind"

A clawed hand came up to the emperor's face and he let out a sigh.

"Now correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe you were 'just finishing' the mind a week ago. A WEEK AGO!" He suddenly exploded.

The tiny insect toppled over in terror and covered his head with his arms. The other Grubs flinched and hurried on with their work.

"W-well, m-my emperor"

"IT'S EVIL EMPEROR TO YOU INFERIOR LITTLE NITWITS! And I am sick of waiting. HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO CREATE ONE LITTLE MEMORY CHIP?"

The grub had almost been reduced to tears, and it had gone a pale green colour in fright. One of the others decided to speak up in defence of its friend.  
>"Evil emperor Zurg, it is taking so long to make because we are not entirely sure how to make it. We have never done anything as complicated as this before. The first couple of robots we've made didn't need such a complicated processor, just simple bits of data like 'how to shoot properly'."<p>

"Yes, and they still weren't that good at that in the simulation." A Brainpod muttered, but quickly shut up from a glare. Boy, if looks could kill...

Zurg glanced at the Grub at his feet, who was slowly crawling away from him to the crowd, and turned to focus on the rest of his minions.  
>"Well, you better learn quickly. After this creation, I'm expecting a whole army of robots at my disposal. Only, oh I don't know, a few hundred thousand?"<p>

Wide eyes and gasps echoed around the room. Mutterings of "He can't be serious!" and "How does he expect us to make that many robots!" drifted into the emperors ears and he smiled in cruel glee.

"Oh yes, and lots of special creations too. All needing a personality chip to insure they work at the best they can do. They will be a force to be reckoned with. So powerful and deviously evil, not even that newly built Star Command will be able to beat them!"  
>He burst into fits of evil laughter and one Brainpod poured a glass of water just in case. Zurg was known to choke while laughing, and he got in a terrible mood if he began coughing during a moment of evil.<p>

Luckily, he finished his laugh with no interruptions and sighed in anticipation for the future. He was sure to defeat the galaxy in no time, and then he would become the greatest evil emperor the universe had ever seen!  
>Well, just as soon as his newly recruited minions could work properly. They said they were the best workers on this side of the Beta quadrant, but they weren't working as well as Zurg hoped.<p>

"Well, I am bored of waiting and I want to see this thing completed quickly. I will give you half an hour and then the chip must be installed. If you do not want to face my WRATH OF DOOM, the robot will be up and working properly when I next return. Now if you excuse me, I am going to get cake. AND NONE OF YOU MAY HAVE ANY!"  
>There was a chorus of disappointed groans as the evil emperor walked into the corridor with another burst of cruel laughter.<p>

The Grubs and Brainpods ran to their stations and panicked to get the robot complete.  
>The memory chip was rushed to get finished and was dropped a few times being carried from worktop to worktop.<br>Pieces were lost and found a minute later slightly crushed underfoot. Solder was smudged all over the top of the chip but, eventually the head Brainpod deemed the end result satisfactory and with 5 seconds to spare, placed it into the designated slot.

The door was slammed open and everyone jumped, one Brainpod fainting onto the floor with a clatter. The evil emperor Zurg strode into to the room, his helmet covered in chocolate cake and crumbs covering his cloak. He stood before his creation and clasped his hands behind his back.

"Is it done?" He asked one of the Brainpods standing next to him.

"Y-yes my e-evil emperor, it is completed."

"Excellent," He exclaimed in delight, resisting the urge to fist pump. "Let's turn it on now!"

A Grub scurried of to collect a remote and handed it up to the robed figure.

"Would you like the honour sir?" The small being chirped.

"Ooh, a big red button. You can never go wrong with a big red button, make a note of that for future reference." He advised. Then with a pause for dramatic effect, lifted his hand up and slammed it down on the remote.

Electricity coursed through the body of the robot with a crackle and the lights dimmed and flickered. After a few moments, the electricity stopped and the lights were restored to normal. A few sparks jumped off the body before all was still.

A silence filled the room and everybody held their breaths, waiting to see what would happen.  
>It took a moment but eventually, the moment Zurg had been anticipating finally arrived.<p>

With a slight hesitation and a flicker, two crimson optics lit up.

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><p>Please review :)<p> 


	2. Awakening

**Author's Note: **Thank you to my one reviewer! It made me happy to see one person likes my story! Anyway, I am planning this to be quite a long story but, we'll see if I can get that far.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Buzz Lightyear of Star Command or any of the characters. I own E.V however.

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><p>The robot was confused. Somehow, it had ended up in a strange dark room surrounded by unusual little green creatures and pink things in jars.<br>Tables covered in machinery filled almost every space and one odd-looking box with neon strings attached kept spinning around and whirring.  
>No matter how hard it tried, the robot didn't remember anything other than opening its eyes. That scared it immensely, but the most unnerving thing had to be the tall, purple robed figure cackling with delight. He was well built, and donned a mask with a green grill for a mouth. He oozed power and by the way the green things edged away in fear, the robot assumed he was the leader. As goofy as his laughing was, it was still terrifying.<p>

The robed figure stopped laughing and slowly walked towards his newest creation. The robot whimpered, backed away into the wall and curled slightly in on itself in fear. It watched as a clawed hand gestured to the figure's chest dramatically and he held his head up high.  
>"I am Evil Emperor Zurg, your creator!"<br>Some Grubs scoffed at the comment.  
>The robot looked up nervously at the emperor's face. "Evil... Emperor... Zurg?" It repeated, unsure of its voice.<br>Zurg looked pleased. "Yes! And remember to call me that exactly. No 'Zurgs' or 'Emperor Zurgs', it's _Evil _Emperor Zurg!"  
>The robot nodded, and he grinned at how well his creation was learning.<p>

"Now tell me robot, what is your purpose?" His hands rubbed together in anticipation.  
>The robot looked puzzled for a moment, and closed its optics to ponder on the question. Eventually it looked up at the emperor with a concerned expression. "I-I don't know. Am I supposed to know?"<br>"What? GRUBS!"  
>A few Grubs jumped and rushed forwards towards Zurg in a panic.<br>"Yes my Evil Emperor?" They chorused.  
>The emperor faced them, eyes flashing crimson. "Why doesn't it know? It was supposed to know! Isn't this information on the memory chip?" He yelled.<br>"W-well m-my evil emperor, the thing is... uh..." The emperor stared impatiently at the stuttering Grub and tapped his foot.  
>The robot was getting more and more worried by the second. Had it done something wrong? Was it going to get beaten? It wanted to move away from the towering monster but it was too frightened to move.<br>"W-we were very rushed to get it finished, and we may have had a few accidents while carrying it around, so there is a _slight _possibility it might be a teeny, tiny bit... broken." The Grub trailed of and raised its arms to cover its face.

Zurg sighed and looked back at the robot, who had wrapped its arms around its legs and timidly looking around. "Ok" The robot's gaze turned back to him. "Seeing as you can't remember." He glared at the Grubs. "Your purpose is to serve me and help me conquer the universe."  
>The robot's optics widened at the blunt statement and its mouth fell open in shock.<p>

"Are-are you serious? But... that's ridiculous! You can't do that. How do you expect me to do that? You can not take over the universe, that's just stupid!"

Everyone stopped and stared at metal being, and then at Zurg; waiting to see what would happen.

Amazingly, and to everyone's relief, the emperor began to laugh. He laughed harder and flung his head back until he was clutching his sides in pain.  
>Suddenly, it was quiet and the evil emperor crouched down to where the robot was sitting. He glared menacingly at his creation and leaned in towards its face until he was an inch away.<p>

"Well you might think it's impossible, but it won't be. Not when you are out there, and my other robot army. Because do you know what you are?" The robot shakily shook its head.  
>"You are an energy vampire."<br>He grabbed its wrist and hauled it up with him as he stood up to full height. The grip was crushing and the robot winced as its arm was lifted above its head. Its feet skidded across the floor and its legs shook. Due to the fact it had not used its legs yet, it found it difficult to balance, even with the support. There was also a significant feeling that it was drained of strength and was growing weaker by the second; however, the robot was more focused on what the towering monster was saying.  
>The close proximity to Zurg made it very uncomfortable and it turned its head away.<p>

"You will be able to drain the life out of any machine, and take complete control over it! You will be able to take on any space ranger they throw at you!" He began laughing again and released his grip on its pale gray wrist. The robot staggered back until it hit the wall and managed to steady itself. Anxiously, it stared at Zurg and began to stumble forwards slowly.  
>"But, won't that kill the machine?"<br>Zurg snorted in amusement. "Well, duh. That's kinda the point."

After a few failed steps the energy vampire gave up and fell back to the ground a heap. Groaning, it pushed its elbows up as support and lifted its head towards the evil emperor. "But, I don't want to kill anything!" It cried.

The emperor threw his arms up and exclaimed in frustration. "Robot, you are getting on my nerves. You will do everything I say without question and for goodness sake CAN WE ACTUALLY GET A NAME FOR THIS THING! I can't just keep calling it 'robot'.

A Brainpod raised its arm slowly and called out. "Well, we did think of a name my evil emperor. Or, more technically, I thought of a name." It proudly placed a hand on its chest.  
>"Yes, yes. What is it?" Zurg waved a hand impatiently.<p>

"Um, well. The name is..." He paused for dramatic effect. "Energy Vampire #1"  
>Smiling, he waited for the praise which was sure to follow.<p>

Silence.

"WHAT SORT OF STUPID NAME IS THAT? Energy vampire #1. What on earth makes you think that is in any way a good idea." He looked over at the alarmed robot. "And for one thing, this useless hunk of metal is a girl! _I think. _That is not even a good name for anything!"

The robot cocked its head. "A girl? I'm a girl?" It muttered  
>He drifted off. "Now, agent Z. That is a good name. A BRILLIANT name in fact! I think I'll save that one."<p>

Evil emperor Zurg pointed at the Brainpod, which was hidden in its jar. "Shorten it! Make something snappier than stupid 'Energy vampire #1'.  
>The Brainpod stuttered. "Uh, um...well..."<br>"NOW!"  
>It shrieked. "Ah! Err... EV? Yeah E.V. That's a shorter name than Energy vampire #1."<p>

The emperor thought for a moment "EV. E dot V? Nah just E.V. Yes, that works!" He smirked.  
>Whizzing round, he gestured a finger towards the overwhelmed robot.<p>

"From now on my girl, you shall be named E.V."  
>"E.V?" She considered the name, but seeing the monster's insistent scowl, she realised she had no choice on the matter she accepted it.<br>"Ok, E.V sounds fine." She nodded quickly so as not to displease the villain.

The emperor scoffed. "It's more than just fine. I made it up, so it must be perfect, however I digress. So now where were we before this naming fiasco?"  
>Suddenly he stopped, and the air grew cold around him. Grubs and Brainpods scurried away as fast as possible and E.V shuffled herself backwards until she could go not further.<p>

He walked towards her in long strides and quickly grasped her chin to force her face up.  
>"Now you listen E.V, you are going to obey me, and you are going to kill machines. If you refuse, there will be consequences. Do you understand?"<br>The eerie quietness of the threat was enough to make the robot shake in pure terror. She nodded.  
>"Say it."<br>"Y-yes evil e-emperor Zurg." She whispered.  
>"Good" He turned to his minions and crossed his arms. "Make her fight some of the hornets, test her abilities. If she fails, she is useless to me."<p>

Walking towards the door, he looked over at E.V and glared. "I expect you to win. If not, I will shut you down." And with that, the door shut.


	3. Life is scary

**Disclaimer: **Do you really think if I owned BLOSC, I would spend my time writing bad fanfiction?

**Author's note:** In case anyone wondered, this is set before the cartoon. So Zurg has only been Evil Emperor for about a month, and Star Command had only just been built. Also, this is a very long chapter isn't it?

Anyway! Read and review. Review being the key word here, not that I'm desperate or anything I'm desperate!

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><p>After she was dragged through dozens of corridors, and had completely lost all sense of direction, the two Brainpods pulling her finally reached their destination. E.V was dumped unceremoniously onto the cold metal floor and she winced. She flexed her wrists which had previously been in the tight grip of her escorts –Who knew those little squirts could be so strong in pulling a whole 5 foot robot- and looked up, gasping at what she saw.<br>A huge purple door towered above her. It had a curved archway, and carved into the metal were little engravings of planets and stars. It was so intricately decorated she couldn't help but stare.  
>"Wow. Zurg certainly doesn't skimp out on the interior decorations."<p>

"Why thank you" She turned her head in surprise at the voice. A beaming Brainpod grinned at her. "I did all the designs myself." He boasted. His friend elbowed him and glowered.

"Don't talk to her; you'll get us into trouble." He hissed.  
>"Oh please, like Zurg knows what we're saying." The first Brainpod rolled his eyes. "Besides, you're the one who almost got us scrapped with that 'Energy vampire #1' business. We all said 'That's a stupid name' 'It's too long for a name' 'It's unoriginal' But NOOO you said! You <em>had<em> to tell Zurg that name."

E.V stared at the two arguing Brainpods, and then turned back to the door. She managed to stand up without them noticing and walked closer to get a look at it. Curiosity got the better of her, and she gave it a little nudge, and then a bigger push, however it didn't budge.  
>She glanced quickly back to see her two escorts trying to wrestle each other to the ground, but with wheels it wasn't really working.<br>Satisfied they were distracted, she lent her back to the door and heaved, pushing her feet and straining to get the door open, but it wasn't moving at all.

E.V was getting really annoyed. First she had been woken up in front of a terrifying monster of a man, then she had got _dragged _through countless identical corridors, and then this stupid door wouldn't budge an inch!  
>In a fit of rage, she spun round and kicked the door as hard as she could.<p>

Not the smartest idea.

A loud _KLANG _echoed throughout the hallway and caught the attention of the two scuffling Brainpods, who became silent.  
>A few seconds later, E.V let out a howl of pain and clutched her food tightly. She hopped around in circles with her eyes clenched shut and hollered a string of offenses at the door.<p>

"AHHHHGGGG, VENUS DARN IT, STUPID DOOR! WHY THE SPARKS DID I DO THAT, OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD THAT HURTS! NNNNNGGGGHHH! STUPID STUPID STUPID!"  
>She cut off as one Brainpod, having ended the argument, glided to the door...<p>

And pulled.

The door opened swiftly and revealed a large circular room, which looked suspiciously like a fighting arena. The door they were entering was directly opposite another on the other side of the room, which was covered in soot from explosions and dented in many places. In fact the whole room was covered in holes, dents and soot. It looked like some sort of battle had gone on. And she was next.

"So, this is where you will be tested."

E.V jumped and turned, anxious to the Brainpod next to her.

"Huh, what?"

"I said, this is where you are going to be tested. Honestly, don't you listen?"

"H-How do you mean tested? It looks to me like you mean blown up!" She panicked. With all the things that were happening to her, E.V was beginning to think that life just wasn't the thing for her and she wanted everything scary to just disappear.  
>If only there was an alternative that might be a bit more enjoyable and nice, like the time she felt... She couldn't think of any enjoyable feelings she had had yet in her short time alive. Maybe there was no such thing?<br>Was this what she was supposed to feel forever? Scared and confused? Was this life?

"Zurg said you need to be tested against some of our Hornets, to asses your fighting abilities" Chimed the Brainpod on her opposite side, unbeknownst to her inner turmoil. "So, we'll get you set up and then you can destroy the things we spent weeks planning and building." It spoke cheerfully but there was an obvious hint of frustration in its voice.

"Wait! I don't want to destroy anything. Hey! Stop! What are you doing?" E.V cried, struggling to escape as the two Brainpods grabbed her arms and began to drag her over to what looked like an elevator. She continued to struggle as she was pushed into the lift, and as soon as she was inside, the ground abruptly rocketed upwards and she let out a shriek, falling on her back. She kept screaming until the floor stopped, and she quickly scrambled out, lest it move again.

She found where she was, even worse than the strange moving floor.

The moving floor had taken her far higher than where she was before. Now, she was on a tiny square platform, almost touching the ceiling.

Shakily crawling on her hands and knees, she lay down and peered over the edge, looking down at the floor far, far below. The two Brainpods were tiny, and so was everything else. She didn't like this, she felt dizzy and sick, and she was worried she would fall. She didn't like this at all.

"Why have you made me come up here?" She yelled, her voice wavering from fear, and the shaking that consumed her body.

"So you can fly properly of course! Isn't it wonderful?" The Brainpods called back, their voices faint. "Your instincts should kick in any moment now! We programmed it into your memory chip, you should love being high!"

**_"_****_WELL I DON'T!" _**She screamed at the top of her voice. Her throat hurt from the strain, but the fear had completely overtaken her. She was absolutely terrified, and nothing was changing that fact. She had to crawl back to the scary moving floor to prevent her from passing out from fright, and she curled into a ball on the floor, letting the tremors overtake her.

The Brainpods looked at each other and waited, expecting the robot to suddenly jump off the towering ledge, spread its wings and fly. It didn't.

"Hmm, maybe the memory chip was more damaged than we thought."

"And why would you be thinking that?"

The two Brainpods squeaked and whizzed around to the source of the voice. Zurg was standing in the doorway, arms crossed and looking very annoyed.

"W-well, my evil e-emperor, you see... the thing is..." Zurg ignored the creatures incessant ramblings and looked up to where the energy vampire was supposed to be.  
>"Why isn't she flying? She is supposed to fly. Why is this not happening?" He questioned, pointing at the empty space in the air where the robot was supposed to be flying around.<p>

"Well, my evil emperor, the fact is... hehe... and, hehe, it's a _very _funny story." The Brainpod nervously chuckled.

"Just get on with it!" Zurg snapped.

"Uh, well. The vampire, unfortunately, due to a long list of accidents, doesn't have any natural hunting instincts and appears to be highly afraid of heights..." The Brainpod trailed off.

Zurg sighed. "So you are telling me, that we have created an energy vampire; designed to _fly_ -now fly is the key word here- around in the dark, killing robots, that is afraid of heights and doesn't want to kill robots. Is that what you are telling me?"

The Brainpod hesitantly tapped its fingers together. "...yes."

"Well I can see my new army is going to take some work before we can take out that new Star Command. Ok, no matter!" He breathed out heavily and turned towards the door. "We can still try to work with this. There's no need to panic. I'm sure it just needs to get a taste of energy before it can work properly." He motioned for the door to open before moving to the side of the room. As the doors opened, a long chain of Hornets began marching into the room. These earlier versions had much more simple designs, and were constantly sparking at the joints.

"E.V!" He yelled up the platform. E.V stopped whimpering to herself and became quiet as she heard the familiar commanding voice. She slowly lifted herself up and crawled back to the ledge, as much as she didn't want to.

"Y-yes, my e-evil emperor?" She squeaked down to the figure below.

"You are a vampire! And as you are going to destroy Star Command for me, you will start by destroying these Hornets! I order you to!"

The Hornets were very far below her.

"How am I supposed to get them from up here?" She asked, deciding not to mention that she didn't want to kill them.

Zurg resisted getting out a gun and shooting everything, and grit out. "We designed you with wings, use them."

E.V was shocked. She couldn't have wings, she couldn't see any. Unless...  
>Curious, she focused all her attention onto her back and stayed perfectly still. Yes... she could definitely feel something building up, like a sort of tingling feeling. She imagined the feeling flowing outwards, and imagined her back transforming into a pair of wings. There was certainly something happening, so she focused even harder, shutting off everything around her.<p>

"What is that malfunction doing up there?" Zurg growled, tapping his foot impatiently.

Suddenly, E.V opened her eyes wide. She felt some sort of internal command, and tried to activate it.  
>Bright, crimson bat like wings emerged from her back, glowing like they were radioactive and stretching out around her. She yelped in shock at the new appendages, and spun around to get a look at them. Hesitantly, she tried flapped them a few times. They moved awkwardly at random angles, and she couldn't get them to flap at the same time, but overall she found it to be pretty remarkable, even if they mostly just flopped around.<p>

She sat down at the edge of the platform and wrapped her new wings around her frame, feeling like they gave her comfort. "I have got wings!" She cried positively. "But I don't know what to do with them!"

Zurg was rapidly loosing it, and he wasn't too pleased to have to converse with the robot by constantly yelling. "YOU FLY! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU DO WITH WINGS? YOU FLY WITH THEM! DON'T TELL ME YOU DON'T KNOW HOW!"

"Ummm... no, and I'd rather not anyway. Please can I come down?"

"RRAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH! HORNETS ATTACK!" Zurg yelled, pointing at the Hornets. The group of Hornets quickly flew up to where E.V was and aimed their guns art her. She quickly jumped back and cowered on the floor, wrapping her wings completely around her.

Zurg sighed, knowing he wasn't going to get anywhere with this, activated his rocket boots and followed the Hornets until he was hovering next to the quivering robot. "Get up."  
>E.V slowly poked her head up, and stood up shaking to face the 50 Hornets pointing weapons at her.<p>

Zurg pointed at one Hornet and beckoned it closer. He desperately wanted to yell and scream at the robot to do as it was told, but obviously the only way to get through was by talking in a calm manner. "Now, the way you are going to defeat this Hornet is by biting it."

"What?" E.V asked, confused. She felt inside her mouth, but she couldn't find any teeth. Maybe she wasn't supposed to have any.

"You heard me, now grab the Hornet and bite it before I loose my temper."  
>Cautiously, E.V stepped forward, trying not to look down as the height still terrified her, and gently grabbed the robots arm.<br>"Sorry." She apologised.  
>"DON'T APOLOGISE! BITE IT!" Zurg roared, and E.V quickly clamped her jaw onto the Hornets wrist.<p>

Nothing happened.

She waited with her jaw still fixed around the appendage. "Is this supposed to happen?" She asked, her voice muffled around the arm in her mouth.  
>"No, let go." Zurg ordered, and E.V released the very relieved looking Hornet.<br>As Zurg began inspecting the yellow robot, E.V wiped the saliva from her lips... and stopped. She anxiously began feeling inside her mouth and found something that wasn't there before. Two small, but sharp fangs had suddenly been drawn through the top of her mouth. Had they appeared because she bit the Hornet?

Zurg was muttering to himself, bewildered as to why there were no marks on the drones arm when he noticed E.V looking very shocked and feeling inside her mouth. "Come here." He commanded and E.V stumbled forwards. The emperor stuck his clawed hand inside her mouth and she squeaked in surprise, looking really uncomfortable.

"Ah ha! I knew it. You just needed to get a taste of metal before your instincts kicked in! Now, bite it again."  
>Zurg pulled his hand out and E.V flexed her jaw a few times. "What, with these? Won't that hurt it?"<br>"No, it's just a mindless drone." The Hornet looked like it badly wanted to object that statement, and E.V could tell it did too, but with Zurg staring threatening at her, she knew she had no choice. Once again, she grabbed the Hornet's arm, mouthed an apology, and bit its wrist.  
>This time however, the fangs she now had acquired sunk easily into the metal and E.V flinched in worry, as did the Hornet.<p>

Without warning, she felt a great surge of energy travel through her fangs and course through her body. It seemed to awaken every sensor within her and fill her with such power she had never felt before. It was the first enjoyable feeling she had felt since she had awoken and she never wanted it to stop. It was like some sort of drug to her and subconsciously she bit harder. The Hornet began thrashing around in a desperate need to get the energy vampire off, and without her fully knowing what she was doing, E.V pushed the robot to the ground and held it securely in place by its chest and neck. As the energy filled her, she automatically let her wings free and they spread wide, bathing the group in an ominous, crimson glow.  
>Zurg had been laughing manically throughout and the other Hornets had began edging back, in fear of what might happen to them.<p>

Soon, the flow of energy began to slow to a stop, and E.V started to come to her senses. She blinked, and quickly jumped back, horrified at what she had just done. The Hornet in front of her was lying unmoving on the ground, the light from its optics was gone and it had two sparking puncture wound on its arm. E.V stared. She had killed a robot. She had willingly killed a robot, held it to the ground and drained all the life out of it.

And she had enjoyed it.

Zurg was clapping and cheering "Bravo!" while the Brainpods on the ground were shaking hands and celebrating how well their robot had preformed.  
>E.V wrapped her arms around her knees and rocked back and forth. She felt horribly sick and she was shaking uncontrollably. All the good feeling she had previously felt was gone, and was replaced by horror. She felt tears begin to prick her eyes, but she was too shell-shocked to let them fall, she just kept rocking and hyperventilating.<p>

Zurg looked briefly at the shivering robot, before beginning to descend down to the ground. "Well, now you know what you're doing, I'll leave you to all the other Hornets!" He grinned.  
>E.V only slightly registered what he said, and felt like she was about to pass out.<p>

"I'll watch from down here." Zurg's voice was getting a bit fainter and E.V heard his rocket boots stop as he landed. She kept breathing and tried to forget what had just happened. She didn't want this to continue, she wanted to feel how she did before she woke up. Not feeling anything was better than what was going on now.

"Oh, and I almost forgot." She heard Zurg say. "Seeing as you will work at night..." He drifted off, and E.V briefly wondered what he was talking about. She heard a switch being thrown and suddenly all the lights turned off. She couldn't see anything at all except the red glow of her wings, and something inside her clicked. She screamed a terrible, blood curdling scream, and covered her head with her arms and wings. She hadn't learnt a lot in the time she was alive, but the things she knew now were; she had wings that were useless, she could kill robots with her fangs, she was terrified of heights, but above all, she now knew she was deathly afraid of the dark.

She could feel every bad feeling cascade towards her, with no visual evidence to prevent her thinking she was going to be attacked. She thought she felt the dead Hornet claw at her legs, and the talons of Zurg grip her around her neck. She felt the floor slowly slip away and she could feel the wind scrape and drag across her figure. She could hear whispering voices and far away screams and the sound of monsters coming towards her. And still she screamed as she had nothing to tell her otherwise, for all she knew, it could all be happening. She thrashed wildly, clawing out to anything that could be coming near while keeping her eyes clenched shut. Her scream had become nothing but painful static but she still didn't stop, and the tears that had threatened to fall before surged freely down her face.

Zurg had not been expecting to hear that reaction and quickly flipped the switch back.  
>E.V stopped thrashing and opened her eyes, becoming silent again. She was still on the ledge, and no monsters were attacking her, she was however surrounded by a large number of very concerned looking Hornets. Surprisingly, they didn't look mad at her for killing one of them; they instead looked very worried and sympathetic. E.V doubted very much that they were just mindless drones like Zurg had said.<p>

One of them landed on the ledge next to her and E.V flinched away, still very frightened, but to her great surprise, the Hornet knelt down next to her and opened its arms. E.V hesitated for a moment, then without a second thought wrapped her arms around the robots middle and laid her head onto its cold, metal chest. It wasn't the most comfortable hug, but it was the only one she had ever had and she desperately needed the security. She sobbed uncontrollably and as she did, she felt other Hornets wrap their arms around her. She knew that this would probably be the only time she would feel this way with Zurg around, so she appreciated it all the more.

She could hear Zurg yelling from far below. "I'm done! This malfunction of a robot is afraid of the dark too! No, I can't continue! It's a lost cause. Shut it down! Make sure I never see it again! You should be glad I'm not firing you useless brains! I've only been Emperor for a month and already I'm met with disappointment!"

E.V didn't know what to make of that. She was going to be shut down, that meant she wouldn't be able to feel or thing anything again, but as she thought about it, she wondered whether that was necessarily a bad thing.

She felt the Hornets back away and stand where they were originally, and she wiped her eyes and stood up. The two Brainpods that had brought her had taken her arms again and were leading her back to the elevator they had come in. The lift jerked, and whizzed down, and E.V would have fallen over had they not been holding her arms. The fear of the lift had not changed, but the robot was too shell-shocked to make any noise, too much had happened in the last half an hour for her to properly focus.  
>Her escorts didn't speak to her, but she could hear them muttering about what a waste all their hard work was as they walked through the doors. As they led her through more corridors, E.V thought to her self about what was going to happen. She was going to be shut down. She guessed this was like dying, but honestly she was looking forward to it. Having only been alive for about an hour, one might have expected her to be naive and not know anything about living, and they would be right, but having just experienced every fear she had, having killed another robot without thinking, she didn't feel like she wanted to know what else was in store. She didn't know any positive feelings yet, and she didn't know if she ever would. All she wanted was <em>not<em> to feel how she did before, and if being deactivated could do that, then she'd take it.

She was led around for what must have been a mile, with nothing but her thoughts to keep her company, but eventually the Brainpods stopped at a door. It was quite strange that the door was here as E.V hadn't seen any other rooms for quite a while, but it seemed to be her destination.

They stood in front of the door for an oddly long time, before the Brainpod on the left looked towards the one on the right. "Um, you do know you have the key right?"

"Oh! Yeah sorry, I forgot that." He grinned sheepishly and the other one face palmed. The door was unlocked and they stepped into the room.

It was surprisingly empty, only a few broken gadgets were scatted around the edges. It looked like a storage room for things no one wanted anymore. E.V was a little put out; they couldn't have made it more obvious she was useless, and she was pretty sure she was going to be left in here and forgotten.

"Are you sure this is what Zurg had in mind?" One of the Brainpods asked, taking the key out the lock.

"Sure. He said he never wanted to see it again, so we'll just deactivate it here and leave it. No one will bother with it again." The other responded, nonchalantly.

E.V put her hand on her hip. "Um, excuse me. I am right here."  
>They ignored her, and instead the one closest span her round and started fiddling with her back.<br>She squirmed and protested but it didn't stop until a panel had been opened.

The other Brainpod looked curious. "Oh, I didn't know we installed that." He said, pointing to the various switches and buttons on her back.  
>"Of course we did, how else were we going to deactivate it? Hit it over the head with a bat!" He joked<p>

"Hey, that's not funny! What are you doin..."

And just like that, one button was pressed and the robot fell to the floor in a clatter, the light in its optics flickering out.

"It's such a shame really. We spent days working on that!"

"Well, at least we had a good practice. I'm sure if we have to build another one, then it will work a whole lot better."

"Yeah... Any way! Let's go get some food, I'm starving!"

The lights went out, and the door was locked with a click.

* * *

><p>Gasp! Is she dead?<p>

The answer is yes, yes she is.

BUT WILL IT LAST?  
>FOLLOW TO FIND OUT!<p> 


End file.
